Jerusalem, Israel — April 15, 2013 … Shortly after terror bombs exploded and murdered over 12 people at the Boston Marathon, members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah were reported to be dancing in the streets of Gaza, handing out candies to passerbys.

A number of Palestinians had danced in the street in celebration of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 on the World Trade Center and Washington resulting in the deaths of thousands of Americans.

The head of an Islamic terror organization in Jordan – the Muslim Salafi group says he’s “happy to see the horror in America” after the bombing attacks in Boston.

“American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood,” said Mohammad al-Chalabi, who was convicted in an al-Qaeda-linked plot to attack US and other Western diplomatic missions in Jordan in 2003.

“Let the Americans feel the pain we endured by their armies occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and killing our people there,” he said today.

A Mideast counterterrorism official based in Jordan said the blasts “carry the hallmark of an organized terrorist group, like al-Qaeda.”

The New York Post has reported that at least 12 people are dead and over 100 injured – including up to 15 with amputated limbs – after two bombs ripped through the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Police and FBI were guarding a person of interest at a local hospital, according to a New York Post report confirmed by Fox News. The person, who sources said was 20 years old, had severe burns, but authorities had not determined whether the person was a victim or a perpetrator. Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said during a press conference that no suspect has yet been charged.

The Boston terror bombings took place just before 3 p.m. and reports of two other unexploded bombs were found near the scene reinforced that this was indeed a terrorist attack. Intelligence officials told The Associated Press two unexploded devices were being dismantled. Competitors and race organizers were crying as they fled the bloody chaos, while some witnesses reported seeing victims with lost limbs.

“Somebody’s leg flew by my head,” a spectator, who gave his name as John Ross, told the Boston Herald. “I gave my belt to stop the blood.”

The first two bombings occurred at 2:50 p.m. – nearly five hours after the marathon began – about 50 to 100 yards apart, according to Davis. A third explosion occurred near the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in the Columbia Point section of Dorchester, several miles southeast of the marathon’s finish line, at around 4:15 p.m. Police could not say if it was related to the earlier explosions.

The FBI, which was treating the bombing as a terrorist investigation, was analyzing video from several area surveillance cameras.

Over twenty-six people were transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, including a 3-year-old, who was then taken to a children’s hospital. A doctor at the hospital said at least two of the patients there are in critical condition and that some have burns and injuries that will likely require amputations.

Witnesses heard booms that sounded like two claps of thunder near the finish line inside the Fairmount Copley Plaza Hotel, according to multiple local reports. The terror attack unfolded as the city marked the 238th annual Patriot’s Day, commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

President Obama said Monday that those responsible will “feel the full weight of justice.”
The President assured that the administration is mobilizing its “full resources” to help investigate and provide security.

The President addressed the US from the White House briefing room just hours after the bombing attacks in Boston.
Obama has been in contact with Massachusetts officials regarding the fatal terror attack and has directed his administration to provide “whatever assistance is necessary.”

A White House official said the president called Boston Mayor Tom Menino and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick earlier Monday to “express his concern for those who were injured and to make clear that his administration is ready to provide needed support as they respond to the incident.”
Obama was briefed by Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco and other members of his senior staff Monday afternoon, as well as by FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone impacted by this incident in Boston, especially the families and loved ones of those injured,” said US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies continue to respond, and at the President’s direction, the Department of Homeland Security is providing any support necessary in this ongoing investigation. We encourage the public to be vigilant, and to listen to direction from state and local officials.”

Officals in Jerusalem expressed regret for the senseless loss of life in Boston and declared that the people of Israel had the people of Boston in their thoughts and prayers.Israel Humanitarian Aid stated that if needed, they would fly to Boston to provide assistance to first responders and the terror victims. Please share www.Israel4Boston.com.

There are more than 10,000 extremist websites on the Internet compared to fewer than 100 countering them, an analyst on Tuesday told a conference which stressed the need to rebut militant propaganda.

“In many ways, the terrorists are very successful in cyberspace,” said counter-terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna, who heads the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore.

“It is very important for us to build in the next 10 years the capacities and capabilities to counter the increasing presence and the operation of these groups in cyberspace.”

Speakers at the International Conference on Terrorist Rehabilitation and Community Resilience said moderate Islamic groups and governments should make a concerted effort to counter extremist propaganda on the Internet.

YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media are increasingly being exploited to spread extremist views, and moderate religious leaders and governments must keep pace to counter their arguments, they said.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a keynote speech that self-radicalisation through constant exposure to radical views online was a “growing phenomenon”.

“Jihadist sites and sermons by charismatic ideologue firebrands are just a mouse click away,” said Lee, who also stressed the need for closer international cooperation against terrorism.

Islamic scholar Ali Mohamed, co-chairman of Singapore’s Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG), said cyberspace “is shaping up to be the new battleground for hearts and minds”.

The RRG counsels and reindoctrinates jailed militants and helps them reintegrate into society, including some arrested in late 2001 for allegedly plotting to bomb US and other targets in the city-state.

“Terrorists are increasingly exploiting the Internet as a tool for mass communication and radicalisation,” said Ali.

“RRG believes that this is one of our greatest challenges today — to deal (with) and counter the pervasive spread of terrorist ideologies and extremist views online.”

The brothers, aged 19 and 24, were each handed prison sentences of three and a half years by presiding judge Poul Holm, who put emphasis on a number of phone conversations between the 24-year-old brother, who was in Somalia between November 2011 and March 2012, and the 19-year-old in Aarhus.

On sound recordings from the conversations, the older brother said that he would “assemble a whole group [to] go to Europe and murder everything”. The judge and all the jury members, aside from one, found that the brothers were training for terror purposes.

The Aarhus case was unusual as it was the first time individuals were convicted of receiving training and preparing for a terror attack while in a foreign-based terror training camp.

The two brothers were also charged with providing financial support to al-Shabaab – which is considered a terrorist organisation by several European countries, the US, Canada and Australia – but were found not guilty on that charge.

The state prosecutor, Torben Thygesen, had argued that the brothers intended to carry out a terror act at a later time.

“The distance from receiving terror training to attempting a terror act at a later point is not far,” Thygesen said in his closing arguments when advocating for the younger brother to receive the same punishment as the elder. “When you are together in the deed, then the punishment should be the same.”